Improvement in hammer-guards to fire-a rms



UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

CHRISTIAN SHARPS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT lN HAMMER-GUARDS TO FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,546, dated October 22, 1861.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN SHARPS, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a Hammer-Guard for Fire-Arms; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists ofa device, described hereinafter, for preventing the unintentional discharge of fire-arms used for the discharge of metallic cartridges.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

On reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figures 1 and 2 are side views of sufficient of a firearm to illustrate my improved hammer-guard, and Fig. 2 a ground plan.

A represents a portion of the barrel, and B a portion of the stock, of a fire-arm, 0 being the hammer, which is 'connected with a lock and trigger arranged in the usual manner, the hammer being provided with a nipple, a, of a proper form for striking against and exploding that class of cartridges which consist of a metal casing having a bullet at one end and a collar or enlargement at the opposite end, containing the detonating material, between which and the bullet intervenes the charge of powder.

Accidents frequently take 'place in using fire-arms in which cartridges of this class are employed, especially when the hammer is down and its nipple in contact or nearly in'contact with the collar of the cartridge containing the detonating material, for on any sudden jarbeing imparted to the fire-arm the nipple of the hammer is apt to penetrate the collar of the cartridge or to be brought into such forcible contact therewith as to cause an unintentional explosion. The same remarks will apply to fire-arms in which ordinary caps are employed.

It will be observed that the rear, d, of the breech and part of the stock are curved, the curve of one meeting that of the other, so as to form a continuous concavity. On this concavity I fit a curved strip, D, of metal, having an oblong slot, through which passes a setscrew, (1, into the breech, so that the strip can have a limited reciprocating movement in one direction; only-namely, that of the curve against which it bears. This strip, which I have termed a hammer-guard, is bent at one end to the form represented in the plan view Fig. 3, so that when the guard is moved upward it will intervene between the rear of the the latter is down, thus preventing the nipple from being brought into contact with the collar of the cartridge. The side of the hammer is furnished with a pin, q, and the lower end of the guard D with a projection, y, the pin and projection being so situated in respect to each other that on drawing back the hammer to the position of full-cock the pin q will strike against the projection y and move the guard D downward, so that its upper end will be clear of the collar x of the hammer when the latter descends.

As long as the fire-arm is not required for use, care is taken to move the guard to the po sition shown in Fig. 1, its upper end, as before remarked, intervening between the rear of the breech and the collar or of the hammer, thus preventing an unintentional discharge of the load; but 'when the fire-arm is required for use the guard is moved downward by the movement of the hammer itself, so that the nipple can take the desired effect on the cartridge.

I do not desire to claim,'broadly, an adjustable obstruction for preventing the hammer of a fire-arm from discharging the load; but

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent The curved guard D, with its projection y, in combination with the hammer 0, its collar 00, and pin q, the whole being arranged ona fire-arm for dischargingmetallic cartridges, as and for the purposes herein setforth.

to this specification in the presence of two sub scribing witnesses.

CHRISTIAN SHABPS.

Witnesses:

HENRY HowsoN, JOHN WHITE.

breech and a collar, 00, on the hammer, when In testimony whereof I have signed my name 

